Classroom Library Organization

Hello Teachers,

It is August.  Time to enjoy the summer breeze and begin to think about your classroom environments once again.  I want to devote some posts this month to organizing our classrooms to support student independence.  I can see that you like the classroom library photos, so I will post a few more of those today.  Many thanks to Phyllis for allowing me to share these photos from her classroom.  Click here to see more classroom library pictures.

A few tips for your library:

• Put out the books your students in need.  The baskets should represent the range of readers in your room.  

• Make sure the labels on the books are clear and consistent.
• Sort your nonfiction books into baskets with interesting categories and invite your students to make and resort the baskets with you.  I like to have the books in these nonfiction baskets leveled when possible.

• You can place author bins and other topical baskets on separate shelves (for example, an "Authors We Love" shelf, a "Partner Reading" shelf, and an "Ideas We Love" shelf) so kids understand the organization.  You may want to unveil this section and these baskets after you read books with these favorite authors and themes (perhaps in read aloud or in a unit of study that involves partners reading the same books) so kids know how to browse these sections, how to look and pictures and retell the stories, and where to put them back when they are finished.